Seat or back fastening for furniture



(No Model.)

J. M. SAUDER.

SEAT UR BACK FASTENING FOR FURNITURE.

Patented Feb 21,1888.

ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES UNTTnn STATES PATENT @rrrce.

JOHN M. SAUDEI-t, or BLooMsBUne, PENNSYLVANIA.

SEAT OR BACK FASTENlNG FOR FURNITURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378.219, dated February 21, 1888.

Serial No. 247.432. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN M. SAUDER, of Bloomsburg, in the county of Columbia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Seat and Back Fastening for Furniture, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates more particularly to fastenings adapted to secure seats or backs of school furniture to the arms or irons connecting them to the seat arms or standards; and the object of the invention is to provide simple, inexpensive, and effective fastenings of this character.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the fastenings, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification,in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a crosssectional view of the seat of a school-desk and a side elevation of a metal arm held to the seat in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is an under side view of part of the seat and the arm. Fig. 3 is an under side view of the seat with the arm removed and with parts broken away and in section. Fig. 4 is aview of the arm at the edge where it joins the seat of a piece of furniture. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 0: .r w, Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line y 3/ 3 Figs. 1 and 2.

The seat A of a school-desk is shown only in part in the drawings, and is made of strips or slats a of alternating light and dark colored woods glued together edgeto edge, and provided at eachjoiut with two tongues entering corresponding grooves in the opposing part, thus making very desirable and substantial joints,produeing a strong and durable seat.

At the under side of the seat A,and nearits end in the usual place, I a metal arm, B, which will connect with the seatstandard which supports the seat, but is not shown in the drawings, as my invention relates only to the means employed for fastening the arm to the seat, as next described.

The arniB is provided at one edge, prefer ably its inner edge, with a right-angular flange, O, the part c of which lies about in the plane of the main body of the arm, and enters the part- (1 of a groove, D, made transversely in the under side of the seat A, near its end, and the other angular portion, 0, of the arm-flange G enters a eorrespondiugly-shaped portion, d, of the seat-groove D. \Vhere the angular flange O joins the body of the arm B, said arm is preferably provided at opposite sides with lateral ribs E E, which slope or incline from the flange G to their outer edges, and are adapted to rest snugly onto the sloping or correspondingly-beveled margins F F of the seat at each side of the part (Z of the groove D. I show the groove D made in T form, as it is more convenient to give it this shape in cutting out its parts d d by a rotating cutter started in a hole bored at one end of the goove; but a groove made with the communicating relatively-angular portions (1 d only, or in an undercut cross-sectional form and produced in any manner, may be used to fully carry out my invention.

At a number of points along the seat-groove D-say at three places-slots G open laterally from the groove, and said slots preferably taper toward their ends, where they preferably terminatein or merge into deeper round holes, H, as most clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings. On the metal arm 13 there are formed a series of laterally-projecting lugs I, which enter the slots G, and at their extremities are concaved at i to correspond with the outer margins, h, of the round holes H in the seat, and the concaved ends z of the lugs I are preferably beveled to make the lug I longer at its inner part, where it rests against the recess of the seat or back, in order to facilitate the entrance of the fastening studs or pins presently described. The recesses G H are preferabl y formed by first boring the holes H to proper depth, and then cutting the shallower slots G to connect them with the seat-groove D. The extreme inner-wall, h, of the recess G H thus forms, with the concaved end def the log I and the outer part, H, of the recess, a practically round hole to receive a screwstud, J, which has a head,j, adapted to bed itself onto the seat A and the lug I, when the stud is screwed fully home. At one side of its extremity the screw-stud is preferably beveled oli', as shown at K in Fig. 5, to allow it to be driven easier to start it in the hole, and also to exertawedging action on thcarm B, through its log I, while entering the stud. I make the stud with a central socket or hole, L, to receive a wrench-bar, by which to turn the stud up studs in until their heads bed onto the seat.

and the lug I. As the studs are screwed home, their threads will cut their way into the opposing wooden wall of the seat-holes made to.

receive them, and at the same time the studs will, by action on the beveled extremities i of the lugs I, exert a powerful sidewise pressure to force the arm-flange G tightly into the seatgroove D, and also force the arm-ribs E E closely to the under side of the seat.

I wish it to be understood that it is not essential that the parts H of the seat-recesses be made deeper than their parts G, as the screwthreads of the studs J would take a good hold on the wooden parts of the recesses exposed to them were the parts H of the recesses of the same depth as the parts G thereof; but the deeper parts, II, by giving a more extensive hold in the wood to the threads of the screwstuds, promote a firmer hold of the studs to the seat and its iron, and therefore are preferred in practice.

It'will be understood that I am not limited to the screw-stud J as a fastening for the seat arm or back, as a stud or pin provided with barbs and driven directly into the stud-holes would answer well, or a plain tightly-fitting stud or pin may be used; but the screw-stud J is preferred.

As school furniture is generally shipped in knockdown condition, it is very desirable that the parts may be put together easily by nnskilled or inexperienced persons, and these requirements are fully met in the seat-fastenings above described, as the furniture may be set up by any person of ordinary intelligence with the assurance of an absolute rigidity of connection of the arms with the seats, so essential to the satisfactory use and durability of furniture of this class, which is usually subjected to severe and continued racking strains.

It is obvious that the above-described fasteningsthat is to say, the angular flange O, the corresponding undercut groove D, the shoulder or shoulders E, and the recesses G H, receiving lugs I on an arm or casting-may be employed in fastening the school-seat backs to the upper ends of the seat-standards, to which the arms 13 of the seat are connected in the manner above described. I would further remark that it is immaterial whether the surface of the seat or back with which my improved fastenings are employed be either flat or curved, as the same principles of construction of the parts willserve well in either case.

I am aware that metal arms have been held to furniture-seats by means of keys or wedges driven in grooves parallel with the arms or ribs thereon and transversely of the seats; but I do not know of a prior construction using studs driven into holes in the seat and at about right angles to the plane of the seat or back, as I have herein shown and described.

The advantages of my construction over the key or wedge fastenings are that when keys are used looscness of the arms in the seat or back after short use can scarcely be avoided, and the keys are expensive to make and ap ply, and when wedges are used the slots necessarily left at the face of the work in afi'ording driving-room for the wedges allow lodgment for dust and dirt, and give an unfinished appearance to the work, which .is objectionable, especially at the backs of furniture.

It is obvious that with my construction a veryinexpensive and substantial connection of the arms with the furniture seats or backs is made whether screw-threaded, barbed, or plain fastening-studs J be used, and the work has a nicely-finished appearance, and presents no openings for the accumulation of dust or dirt.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fastening for furniture, the combination, with a seat or back provided with an undercut groove, D, having lateral extensions or recesses G H, and an arm or iron provided with a flange, O, engaging the groove D, and provided, also, with faces 17, which with the outer parts of the recesses G H form holes to receive fastening devices, of fastening studs or pins fitted in said holes, substantially as herein set forth.

2. In a fastening for furniture, the combination, with a seat or back provided with an undercut groove, D, having lateral recesses or extensions G H, the parts II of'which are deeper than the parts G thereof, and an arm or iron provided with a flange, O, engaging the groove D and provided, also,with faces a, which with the outer parts of the recesses form holes to receive fastening devices, of fastening studs or pins fitted in said holes, substantially as herein set forth."

3. In a fastening for furniture, the combination, with a seat or back provided with an undercut groove, D, having lateral extensions or recesses G II, of an arm or iron provided with a flange, 0, engaging the groove D, and provided, also,with flanges E, adapted to bear on the seat or back, and said arm or iron also having faces 1;, which with the outer parts of the recesses G H form holes to receive fastening devices, and fastening studs or pins fitted in said holes, substantially as herein set forth.

JOHN M. SAUDER.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK. P. BILLMEYER J. S. BLUE.

IIO 

